Frankie’s story is the latest in an ongoing series that updates the progress of rescued animals featured in previous Best Friends stories. Cordelia Mendoza couldn’t get the little Chihuahua’s face out of her mind.
She first met Frankie while visiting the Las Vegas home of her twin sister, Cathy Scott, a Best Friends writer who was fostering Frankie.
Frankie – formerly known as Latte – was one of a more than 200 dogs rescued from a puppy mill/hoarding situation in Baldwin Park, Calif., in November 2002. Best Friends volunteered to take more than a dozen of the most physically and emotionally challenged dogs and give them the love and care they would need to improve their chances of finding forever homes.
Frankie carried the emotional scars typical of many animals rescued from puppy mills and hoarding situations. Frankie and the other dogs rescued in Baldwin Park had been living in deplorable conditions. Rescuers found them burrowed in furniture and walls and some were running in packs. The conditions were so bad that some of them did not survive.
Cathy brought Frankie into her home to give him the love and care and one-on-one attention he would need to help him overcome his fears. And although he was making progress, he was still very frightened of strangers. And Cordelia and her husband, Bob, were strangers.
Cordelia remembers going on a hike in Nevada’s Red Rock Canyon with Cathy, Frankie and Cathy’s other dogs.
“He looked scared. At one point, he turned his head and made eye contact with me. After the weekend, we returned to San Diego and I couldn’t stop thinking about Frankie.”
Cordelia returned from vacation and went back to work running their antique shop, but Frankie was always on her mind.
“Cathy had told me his story and he touched me in such a way that I couldn’t stop thinking about him,” she says. “I felt he needed us.”
So Cordelia and Bob decided to make Frankie part of their family. He came to live with them in December 2003.
“We really thought about it and decided to do it, but we knew it wouldn’t be easy,” Cordelia says.
Frankie still had a ways to go in healing his emotional wounds and learning to trust people.
“His movements were short and jerky and he would do a sideways shuffle if he wanted to sit next to me,” Cordelia says.
With love, time and patience, Frankie slowly came out of his shell.
“I was very gentle with him and kept telling him he was safe and he slowly responded,” Cordelia says. “His progress would take weeks, not days, and for every one thing he gained, he’d go backwards on something else. It seemed that all of the sudden, after being with us for weeks, that he made a decision to trust us and it changed everything.”
Though Frankie is still a little skittish around strangers and other dogs, he’s comfortable and happy with his forever family, which includes two rescued Burmese cats. Today, he’s Cordelia and Bob’s constant companion. They even dine at restaurants with pet-friendly patios so Frankie can join them. His days are filled with sunny walks along the beach and hanging out at the antique store.
“We love him and accept him exactly as he is with all his quirks and fears,” Cordelia says. “He’s our little guy.”
Written by Sandy Miller
Photos courtesy of the Mendoza family
To read more about puppy mills, go to The Truth About the Pet Trade community on the Best Friends Network.
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